Love's Downfall
by daysandweeks
Summary: They shouldn't be fighting when there are actual enemies out there, but it's her typical Hufflepuff love of everyone and anything that's bringing them down. Rated T for language.


**A/N:** _Written in a few short minutes of inspiration and not my absolute best, but please read and tell me what you think! It's' for my own challenge – Hannah's Hufflepuff trait of forgiveness (which I assume to be a very Hufflepuff trait – we don't know too much about the house) gets in the way of her relationship with Neville. (Though arguably Neville's Gryffindor trait of hating Slytherins also gets in the way.)_

She stands at the front of the classroom, her golden pigtails gone frizzy and askew. Neville gulps as he watches Blaise Zabini point his wand at her. Blaise nervously glances towards that awful mess of a teacher and then back at Hannah and then the word is halfway out of his mouth before Neville stuns him.

_He's_ the one to be Crucioed now – not Hannah, who had made the mistake of insisting that something or other that Carrow bitch said was untrue. Neville doesn't even feel the pain, though, as he gazes at Hannah, who is crying and not looking at him. Instead, she's gazing almost painfully at Blaise, who can't look at either of them as that awful woman casts her spell.

They meet that night in the Room of Requirement. No one else is there, aside from Seamus who is passed out in a corner, a cut along his jaw. _How'd he get that one?_ Neville thinks, but he doesn't bring it up because Hannah's still crying, all these hours later.

"You didn't have to do that," she says, her voice thick and wet.

"Aw, Han," Neville replies, and he awkwardly puts an arm around her. "I did. I really did. It was bullshit. You didn't do anything wrong and Blaise didn't want to hurt you, even. It was awful what he was about to do just because some evil bitch—"

"Well that's what I mean," Hannah interrupts, her voice a bit more solid. "Blaise…he wouldn't have done that, you know. He wouldn't have actually done it."

She's so sure that it breaks Neville's heart. "He would have, Hannah," he whispers. "I'm not saying Blaise is a bad guy but he's not a good one either and the fact of the matter is—"

"We were friends once," Hannah insists, interrupting Neville once more. "And he kissed me this one time, in fourth year, and I always sort of fancied him and I just don't think he'd ever—"

"Merlin, Hannah, don't be so ridiculous!" Neville can't help but shout now, standing up and not even casting a glance in the direction of Seamus, who snores through it all. "He's a Slytherin. He's one of them and—"

"You don't know him like I do!" Hannah screams through her tears. "You don't know him at all."

Neville turns on his heel and walks away, planning to exit the Room of Requirement to return to his dormitory, where he can draw the curtains and put a silencing charm up around his bed and scream at the ceiling because _Christ_ he wants to love Hannah, but he can't when she's this…this…

"You know," he says, turning to face her briefly. "It's your fucking stupid Hufflepuff sense of trusting everyone that hurts you, Han. You wouldn't be crying right now if you had a decent head on your shoulders."

"And it's your stupid rivalry with Slytherin that hurts _you_, Neville," she spits back immediately. "How can you be so biased for no reason? When you don't even know a person?"

He has no answer for that but a roll of his eyes and a few angry stomps in the direction of the door. He softens, though, because they shouldn't be fighting when there are actual enemies out there, even just beyond the security of this room.

"I'm sorry, Han," he says to the wall, and she's immediately behind him, hugging him. He turns to face her and kisses the top of her head, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo. It's funny how even in a time like this she manages to stay clean and perfect and beautiful.

Neville realizes in this moment that it's not Hannah's trust that brings her down. She certainly isn't that trusting. She doesn't trust the Carrows, obviously. And she even doesn't trust Ginny Weasley, who was Neville's first snog. It doesn't matter that she's in love with Harry Potter. Hannah likes Neville, and she's told him, and she's also told him that she's worried Ginny will steal him away from her. So she's not very trusting after all, is she?

Instead, it's her forgiveness that's hurt her. She's able to forgive Blaise for almost using an Unforgiveable on her. She's able to forgive Neville for being a right prick. She forgave Ginny for blatantly flirting with Neville once, when she had done it just to make Neville angry. And Neville's even heard her dismiss actions of the Carrows. "They're just as brainwashed as Blaise is," she'll say the next day – he's sure of it. He's heard that speech before.

He can't leave her because they're not even really together and this isn't the time to leave someone. But he knows this love she has – this endless love for everyone and everything – will be their downfall one day.


End file.
